Mountain Man Triathlon - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I got kicked the in the face multiple times right at the start. This was MUCH rougher than the sprint last year, apparently my head is a magnet for peoples hands and feet. I rounded the first bouy and felt pretty good. I couldn't see the second buoy because of the fog but I figured it was along the shoreline, so I stayed pretty close to the shore. It wasn't. After a good while I noticed there were less and less people in front of me, and then all of a sudden nobody. I looked around and found the buoy... on the OTHER side of the lake! Auggg! I booked it over there and rounded it, the way back was fine and I pushed it the last 700-900m. Made it out of the water in about 40m which is pretty good for me, was hoping to be a couple minutes faster, don't know how much time I lost from my bad navigation. I also heard people saying the course was long, and apparently it was long last year as well.

Study the map closer and know exactly where the buoys are! I assumed it was going to be on the far side of the lake, shouldn't have done that.

Fast transition, was happy with it, much faster than most. Little disoriented after coming out of the water, thankfully I was able to lean on the bike rack to put my socks on to keep my balance.

Really rough time on the bike... 15 miles in during a turn I almost lost it, back wheel was squirrely and I knew exactly why - low air. Tire was almost flat, I jumped off and get it some air from my hand pump, broke the nozzle off the valve, great. It did take some air so I rode on it for another 10 minutes before I knew I needed to stop and replace the tube (should have done this the first time). Got the wheel off in a decent amount of time, nearly broke the nozzle again in my haste but was able to get enough pressure in the tire to re-mount. Threw it back on and went hard trying to make up some time. I started getting passed like crazy for the next 7 miles, I was pushing pretty hard and felt so slow, had I bonked??? Bike computer showed my average speed was plummeting, I was going about 6-7 mph less than I usually do on those parts, didn't seem overly windy... what the heck?!?! Looked back and checked my brakes... one looked awful close to the rim so I stopped and gave the wheel a spin, I couldn't even turn it. One of the brake pads was jammed up against the rim, no wonder! I fixed it and tested the wheel again, no rubbing, so I started on my way... and I was immediately back to my usual speed. Very frustrating, but I was still having a good time out there. I was worried I might be going too hard on the bike and wouldn't have anything left for the run, I guess we will see! Wasn't too happy about my bike performance because of these problems. Lost quite a bit of time.

New tires. Maybe it was a faulty tube, but I really should have put new tires in, I was especially worried about the front... lots of gashes and one that was especially bad, thankfully it held, but it was a bad idea.

Another fast transition, 30 seconds faster than the 2nd fastest in my age group. Hey, it's free time!

Nothing

I was pretty tired coming off the bike. I tried to start off at a slower but still challenging pace which worked well. Made my way up the hill and came down at a good pace. Stopped at every aid station getting HEED or water or gel if they had it, was taking in enough calories but my legs were feeling fatigued. After the hill I increased my speed a bit, the time went by pretty fast and I kept a steady pace to the turnaround. Coming back I was getting very tired and considered walking, but I never stopped unless I was gulping down liquid at an aid station. Decided to burn some candles for the 5 miles back and managed to pass some more people, my calves and quads were not happy and would threaten to cramp up through fully did, just spasm and nearly trip me. Never saw anyone in my age group. Nobody was in striking distance behind me during the last mile and I wasn't going to catch the guy in front of me, so didn't try and absolutely kill myself to the finish, though I did finish nice and strong. I wanted to complete the run in under 2 hours so I was pleased with my time, especially with how I felt at the start!

Train longer runs, I did bike rides that were significantly longer than the course but for the run I only did one session that was just over the distance I needed to cover.

Half mile slllloowww jog and light stretching a couple times, legs were dead and very tight.


Lack of planning and not enough training. If I hadn't had my bike problems I might would have podiumed (he beat me by 6 minutes).


I had some issues with the organization last year and sent some comments about the sprint 4 weeks ago to the race director about the lack of traffic control. I must say, they did an AWESOME job today! I was very impressed with how organized they were, well staffed, great volunteers, and the traffic control was fantastic. As always, this is such a beautiful course, anyone who isn't turning their head constantly is really missing out. Great job guys!